Reckless
by Takara Hatake
Summary: The Human Doctor has not quite let go of his rash habits. Which earns him a dressing down by someone who is sick and tired of his dangerous antics.


Reckless

He had just saved the day in a particularly dashing manner, if he said so himself, running in front of some aliens Rose had never encountered before (what was their name again? Hevarecopanorians?) and frightening them out of their wits by using some kind of hand tricks nobody actually understood. In one word, he had been brilliant, brave, stylish and his hair flew wildly in the wind next to the crater dug out by the alien's spaceship. And he fully expected admiring crowds and a gorgeous blonde to readily congratulate him –and maybe even swoon over him a little.

That's probably why he did not see said blonde's fist coming.

He sat down with a thump, his cheek burning, pretty sure his nose had changed shape, and the only witty comeback he could think of to this act of unqualified violence, was:

"Hey! What was that for!"

Rose was towering over him –that was a rare fact-, her fists on her hips, her eyes ablaze with anger, definitely not about to congratulate him or cater to his wounded feelings. She kicked him in the shins for good measure.

"You. Bloody. Idiot!" she bellowed. She had inherited her mother's lungs. The Doctor winced visibly. "You complete imbecile! You are supposed to be one of the cleverest people in the galaxy, why don't you start using that brain you always boast about!"

He scrambled up on his feet and dropped back a few steps to protect himself from her fists and feet. But her rant was not over. He realized she was crying. Tears of rage. O-kay. An enraged Rose Tyler. Not such a good day, then.

"Don't you realize? You're as human as I am, now! You won't be able to regenerate! What the hell do you mean by… by rushing in and taking all those risks, and pushing me out of the way!"

His hands flew up in a defensive gesture.

"Erm… Force of habit?"

"Force of… Oh, of all the excuses!" Jack had been watching (and laughing) for a while, now, but he walked up to Rose, took her by the shoulder and whispered something in her ear. It did not seem to help calm her down. She narrowed her eyes up at him.

"So I take any risk and I hear about it until the end of time, and he waltzes in, is nearly killed seven times, and oh he's such a brilliant great hero? He'll end up dying if we let him!"

"Well, Rose dear, then I can console you in your grief, and you won't even have to worry about me, I'm immortal!" Jack answered cheekily.

"Hey wait a minute there," the Doctor protested. "Nobody is consoling anybody while I'm around!"

"But I thought we agreed that at this rate you wouldn't be around for long, Doc?" Jack asked candidly.

"Of course I'm going to be around!" The Doctor scoffed. "What happened to the whole trusting-the-Doctor thing? I liked it! And stop hitting on my girlfriend, will ya?"

Said girlfriend was still fuming, but Jack was still standing far too close to her for the Doctor's taste, so he took a deep breath and came prudently closer to Rose.

"Look, Rose. I'm fine. I know I took a few risks, but…"

"You took a whole battery of unnecessary risks" Rose corrected between clenched teeth. Her blond hair blew around her. That, coupled with her forbidding expression, made the Doctor think of the Gorgon, but he did want to live, so he decided to keep this thought to himself.

"Well, the Earth _was_ in danger," he reminded her, eyes wide and lips pouting.

"Don't do that!" she bellowed.

"Do what?" he asked, fighting a grin.

"Adorable pout, ruffled hair, cute puppy eyes and general gorgeousness" Jack listed automatically. "We know all your tricks by now, Doctor. Don't we, Rose?"

Even Rose could not help but laugh at the Doctor's face when he heard Jack's description –which was, she thought, quite accurate really. She tried to keep a straight face, but Jack's cheeky wink and the Doctor's affronted scoff won her over. She gave out a small grin, and the Doctor knew he could stop worrying for his life again. He walked up to her and hugged her, throwing a pointed glare at Captain Jack.

"I'm still mad." Rose's voice was muffled against his shoulder. Her fist closed against the fabric of his shirt.

"I know. And I'm truly sorry."

"But you'll do it again."

"Of course I will. And I'm sorry about that too. But that's our job, however human we may be."

"I'll never forgive you if you leave me behind, you know that?"

He held her tighter.

"That won't happen. There's no way I'll give Captain Jack a chance to come anywhere near you."

"Too afraid she'd ask for more?" Jack called out, grinning.

Now Rose was shaking with laughter –probably partly because of all the stress and they had all experienced in the past few days. But she found she could not stay angry any longer. All the pressure of the past days, all the fear and the adrenaline were melting down now it was all over, and the Doctor was holding her, and everybody was alive.

Hi everybody! I am back. It has been a while, and it's a different fandom, but I hope you still like it. I have always been quite fascinated with the possibilities the Human Doctor offers. I mean, you can't possibly do more perplexing and tantalizing than that. Human version of the Doctor, thrown in Rose's alternative world… and we don't know what happens next. So. Many. Possibilities.

So, well, I decided to throw in Jack for good measure (and good fun) and to focus on the possible funny sides of it. I hope you enjoyed it.


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